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200 words, common, Diana Schwenk, Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, extraordinary, memories, Purpose, taken for granted, thankful, values
“Don’t wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great.” – Orison Swett Marden
The common things in life are really quite extraordinary.
Most of us take every day things for granted and don’t even notice their value until we lose them.
When I was 19, I thought it would be a great idea to play two-on-two tackle football in a parking lot.
I may, or may not, have been a tad tipsy at the time.
Doug was on my team. He weighed about 130 pounds in wet clothes.
Our opponents weighed 200+ pounds each.
Long story, short; I was charged as if by a raging bull.
My body flew into the air like a cannon ball.
And I landed somewhat sideways on my right bent-in-an-unnatural-way leg.
Thankfully, I didn’t break anything.
But I tore some ligaments, and bruised some muscles and my knee swelled up to twice its size.
I wanted nothing more than to be able to run through a field of flowers.
Our bodies are amazing, no?
~ DIANA’S ENORMOUS BOOK OF QUOTES ~
Walking and dancing and running and even brushing my teeth seems so common yet they are extraordinary activities if you really think about it.
talktodiana 
It is a miracle to even walk. When 16 yrs. old, I was hit by a car during winter, as a pedestrian when walking to school. The car ran slowly through a red light while I had just stepped down from the snowy curb to cross a green light.
I remember being pushed down by the car and the sky was like a jagged clip from an old film.
When I was waiting for the ambulance from hospital only half km. away, I remember crying while sitting in a snowbank. I realized I was so lucky. If the car went any faster, I would have been thrown on top the car hood.
I had a headache fro the rest of the day…it was probably post-traumatic stress of the day.
Sometimes when lying in bed, I think of the miracles of our body….there are so many tiny biophysiological processes that are interdependent happening right now to digest our food, transform it to keep us alive, our breathing, our heartbeat…the human body is an incredible machine of many wonderous interdependent processes in syncronicity.
Listen to your body and think of these miracles.
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Jean,
What a beautiful comment! Our bodies are so wonderful and you say it so eloquently. ❤
I'm so glad the car was driving slowly!
Diana xo
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Ouch! I’m glad nothing was broken. 🙂
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Thanks, me too Rachel!
Diana xo
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Terrific metaphor.
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Thank you Lisa!
Diana xo
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So very true – we can get so caught up in making life into this grand spectacle and all the while it’s truly the simple things that we’d miss should we be unable to do them one day.
Way to get out there and play rough Diana – I’m glad it didn’t end up being broken! 😀
~ Andrea ❤
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Me too Andrea!
Diana xo
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I am not unfamiliar with, forgive me, doing dumb things. When in college our fraternities got together for a football game. i was playing the line at 125lbs and two crutches. Across from me was a 210lb friend, looking to sack our quarterback. At the snap of the ball i threw myself in front of the charging 210lb rusher. We were in a tangled heep on the ground, but as I looked up I saw our receiver catch the ball for a touch down. I never played again, using better judgement.
-Alan
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Wow – ouch! I hope there was no permanent damage Alan!
Diana xo
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No, only to common sense.
-Alan
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i broke my arm for a second time some time ago. The healing was amazing, but again I realized just how much I owe my arm when it comes to just those ordinary little things it does. Thanks Diana – great post.
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Two breaks, same arm? Ouch.
Yes, Don; our arms, legs, opposing thumbs – can’t imagine life without them!
Diana xo
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One of the thoughts I often contemplate when sitting in a hide waiting for anything to appear… our amazing body… I have sometimes put mine through some strange situations and yet it always seems to come out the other side … I have tended to abuse mine in more ways than I want to contemplate, but thankfully it has not decided its had enough… well not yet in any case…
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Thankfully, indeed bulldog! The body does have an incredible capacity for healing. 😀
Diana xo
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Our bodies and minds are extraordinary, aren’t they?
And what we survive is truly miraculous sometimes! 😉
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Yes. The human spirit is amazing Denise!
Diana xo
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I was never a tomboy, in fact I was never a fan of the outdoors
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really? You live in the perfect country for outdoor adventures!
Diana xo
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I’m grateful I lived thru my tomboy years where I thought I was indestructible. I was wrong. Thankfully, no broken bones … although I’m still amazed by that. 😉 Yes. I am constantly amazed by the many things that life has to offer and try not to take the “ordinary” for granted.
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I’ve never broke a bone either – we are both fortunate in that area Judy.
When my daughter was little, I saw many things anew through her eyes. She’s such a blessing to me.
I love your wonder and amazement about life Judy. ❤
Diana xo
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LOL, the older I get, the more I’m reminded of the dumb things I did to myself when I was young and apparently “indestructible” (usually first thing in the morning, before groaning out of bed; ) But, in spite of it all, I never broke a bone until I was in my 50’s; and even then it was only a toe; ). Honestly, I think it would’ve been better to fracture bones than tear muscle or tendons… (’cause Arse-ritis Sucks! ):
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I’ve never broken a bone either Deb, and I hope never to do so.
Yes, feeling the pain of what we did when we were younger is a great example of consequences!
Diana xo
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Interesting that you mentioned teeth-brushing. I twisted my wrist last week, and have been having a touchy time trying to get my teeth clean. ! I’ll remember to be more grateful, from now on, about the little daily miracles that the body is capable of performing.
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Tracy, you are one of the most grateful and life-loving people I’ve met! Hope your wrist heals quickly. ❤
Diana xo
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Thank you, sweetie; I’ve had it in a brace for 2 days (it’s only a muscle-sprain) and it is definitely healing.
It must be some kind of congenital weakness. It happens every few years, but when I rest it, and do my hand-therapy exercises, it heals. Thankfully, it’s nothing more than an occasional nuisance.
But I did wonder about the synchronicity of both of us, just now, thinking about the miracle of our being able to brush our teeth. xo
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Thank you, sweetie; I’ve had it in a brace for 2 days (it’s only a muscle-sprain) and it is definitely healing.
It must be some kind of congenital weakness. It happens every few years, but when I rest it, and do my hand-therapy exercises, it heals. Thankfully, it’s nothing more than an occasional nuisance.
But I did wonder about the synchronicity of both of us, just now, thinking about the miracle of our being able to brush our teeth. xo
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Yes. This human body of ours is a miracle. Every tiny cell of every single organ is on high alert at all times. They open and close small pathways to allow electrolytes to flow in and out as to keep our body balanced. We find it hard to imagine that it all works without too much of our help. Just extraordinary.
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It is miraculous Patty!
Diana xo
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Great post Diana. Thanks for reminding us to appreciate and be grateful for our extraordinary bodies and life! Amen
Karen
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You’re welcome Karen and thank you!
Diana xo
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Our bodies are indeed amazing Diana…. despite what we do to them sometimes 😉
Thank you for allowing me to appreciate mine today!
Val x
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My pleasure Val – more efficient than any man-made machine and remarkably apt at fixing itself!
Diana xo
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I tore a calf muscle once — extremely painful!! At first I thought sure I was going to have to call for an ambulance.
Here’s the really extraordinary thing: The more you learn about how the universe formed, and what reality is like at the physics level, and what amazing “machines” the human bodies are… it’s extraordinary that we even exist, let alone walk, dance or run. By the time you get to making music and art and literature, it’s just plain jaw-dropping. How do we do it?!
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It is like… magic; amazingly jaw-dropping as you say Smitty!
Diana xo
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Indeed! I trust your leg bends naturally now and that your ligaments are fine?
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yes, although as I get older it occasionally gives me a jab of pain to remind me of my parking lot football day.
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The infamous “weather knee” — it tells you when thars ah starm a’brewin’!
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I had some extraordinary non-routine ideas as I tipsy young person that ended rather badly for me, too, Diana. I didn’t know. And then I did. Ouch!
And the sun rose and I wished I hadn’t and appreciated that I could still make that wish. 🙂
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Great way to put it Mark!
I awoke the next morning because I stretched in bed and the pain it brought produced instant tears and I couldn’t walk because of the pain.
Weeks of crutches and physio were my lot and as I get older that leg causes me occasional problems.
Diana xo
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Oy. I fell down an eght-foot cement basement shaft by turning around the corner of a building blindly holding a beer in my hand, sneaking behind a bush for a place to take a leak. I scraped and bruised the entire left side of my body. It hurt and was obviously marked up for a month. Oh, yes, my junior year of college, the same year I fell asleep on the front lawn of a strange dorm at a party and woke up with morning dew on my nose. At least I hoped it was morning dew, Diana. 🙂
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Oh my word Mark! I broke out in a chuckle!
I’m laughing with you, not at you though. You are laughing right? 😉
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Yes, and the moments are also extraordinary even when we DON’T think about them!
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Exactly! 😀
Diana xo
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So true! We expect the sun to rise every morning as an ordinary event. But the sunrise this morning was extraordinary!!
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Was it Ian? I missed it.
Diana xo
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